Voting with your Left or Right Brain

The division between the left and right is deeply entwined in our culture. We didn’t know the sides of our brains controlled the opposite sides of the body when we began calling the Republicans the Right and the Democrats the Left otherwise we would have reversed it. In the past thirty years, the liberal/progressives have become more solidly in their right brains, while the conservatives have dug into their left brains.

Voting with your Right Brain

The right brain likes new ideas and multiple solutions. Thinking “all at one time,” it entertains different points of view. It sees the grey area of all arguments. This is the reason the Democratic Party has a hard time getting behind one idea. All ideas should be given consideration.

The right brain argues that since there is not one right way, individuals should have choice. How can we choose for you when there is no such a thing as a right way? Read more

Voting with your Left Brain

The left brain looks for the right solution and commits to it. It does not like and cannot hold many solutions at one time. It considers each one internally/abstractly and then picks the best course of action. Once a decision is made, the left brain does not to change its mind. It detests flip flopping. It knows that its choice is the right one and everyone needs to get in line. This is one of the reasons the Republican Party does not allow its members to stray from the company line. The Republicans got behind Mitt Romney, now they have to minimize their conflict about his ever changing positions.

The Christian Right and all orthodox monotheistic religions feel at home with left brain thinking. Believing in one God to the exclusion of all others has become very left brained. Since there is one way, individuals don’t need choice. There is the right way and the wrong way. Who would want to choose the wrong way? Read more…

Why we are Divided

In the last thirty years, we have become more divided as a country and as a people. The competition between the two sides our brain have teetered and tottered from one side to the other. In the 2000 election, the two sides stood at a knife’s point. The left brain won, barely. The patriarchal, conservative view of the world dominated leading into fear, war and near financial collapse. While the pendulum swung toward the right brain in 2008, we are once again at the knife’s point. The two sides of the brain see the world differently. It’s like they are living in two parallel universes.

The challenge of our age is to see if we can maintain a balance between the sides of our brains. We need both ways of being to continue to evolve. If the left brain dominates in time we will descend into an autocratic society, a dictatorship, war and, finally, another dark age. If the right continues to grow to overshadow the left, we will descend into anarchy, illiteracy, fiefdoms and end up in another dark age. The middle ground is finding the balance between the two sides, holding the opposites views to be valid and necessary at the same moment.

Before you pull the lever to vote next Tuesday, consider the two sides of your brain. Is one side determining your vote over the other? Is there a vote that balances both?